À Corps Perdus (France 2): “After this film, people will rush to buy tickets to go see the Paralympics!”

One week before the opening of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, France 2 is broadcasting a fascinating documentary tonight: six portraits of disabled athletes, six exceptional life stories. Meet the directors Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai.

“We are portrait painters, not sports journalists..” Beyond performance, Thierry Demaizière And Alban Teurlai filmed six disabled athletes from all over the world for an entire year. Six Olympic Games dreams embodied by Anne-Sophie Centis (French tandem cycling team), Alexis Hanquinquant (French para-triathlon team), Gabriel Araujo (Brazilian para-swimming team), Cédric Nankin (French wheelchair rugby team), Zakia Khudadadi (European para-taekwondo champion) and Oksana Masters (United States handbike team). Tonight, they tell their extraordinary stories on France 2 in the fantastic documentary Body Lostas impressive as it is overwhelming.

“We took portraits of athletes first and foremost, not portraits of disabled people… They hate that,” ” confided the two directors, whom Première was able to interview a few days ago.Among all these athletes, there were mines of stories to explore. Because their medals are even heavier than those of the able-bodied. I mean by that that they will perhaps look for them even further away… The only problem they have, in fact, is our gaze. The gaze of our society…”

For 1 hour 40 minutes, Body Lost is working to decipher their stories of pain, determination, training and unwavering resilience. True warriors on the threshold of the Paris 2024 Games, who hope that the Paralympic event will generate the same passion as the two weeks of madness that plunged France into a certain euphoria in mid-summer: “We watched these Paris Games thinking of our Paralympic athletes. Hoping that they will be able to recover some of this fervor when their turn comes.“, resume Thierry Demaizière And Alban Teurlai. “Because there is such an injustice about that… We would like the rooms to be as full for them as for the able-bodied. Even if it will be the start of the school year and there will be fewer people, inevitably, we are starting to believe it…”

“We were very careful not to make them heroes.“

Without a doubt, the broadcast of their documentary tonight, in prime time, will help fill the stadiums and other arenas designed for the occasion. Because the public will already vibrate to the rhythm of the breathtaking adventures narrated by these six athletes. Like Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan martial arts specialist, who had to flee her country to avoid certain death, when the Taliban took back control of Kabul: “She suffers from a triple handicap, since she is a woman in Taliban Afghanistan, from the Hazara ethnic minority and born with a physical handicap… Seeing this kid evolve in the film, showing her hair, putting on makeup and becoming a taekwondo champion in the name of Afghan women… It’s a completely crazy destiny..” Like her, the six athletes filmed “all have incredible life stories. We’ve limited ourselves to these six, but the world of Paralympic sport is full of stories, each crazier than the last.” Unique destinies, which make Zakia, Cédric or Anne-Sophie true cinema heroes, stronger than fiction. A look which nevertheless annoys them: “We were very careful not to make them heroes.” insist the two directors.”They hate this heroization, that we see them as supermen or augmented beings… It’s something they hate, because it puts them in a separate category. They want to be seen as athletes, quite simply.”

“They no longer accept being told that they are disabled”

All six of them thus delivered their truths without beating around the bush.They all really wanted to talk, to confide, because they all suffer from a lack of visibility and representation. There is a real frustration among them, so when we come to film them, film their sport, their exploits, they are delighted to open the door to us.” The Paralympic Games are, in this sense, a crucial moment in the evolution of the way others view disabled athletes. Thierry Demaizière And Alban Teurlaiit’s the perfect time to “create a buzz around their performances, because they spend the year performing feats in empty stadiums. We would so much like their efforts to be rewarded with popular support and for this documentary to help move the lines. For people to understand that they are good people in their sport and good in their bodies. They have adapted to the world without waiting for the world to adapt to them. So they no longer accept being said to be disabled. When Alexis Hanquinquant cycles 400 km per week, he does not understand being said to be disabled! They are fed up with the perception of able-bodied people. As Alexis says in the film: who knows his name today in France, when he has as many medals as Clarisse Agbegnenou?“

“Of course we’re going to go see them!”

The film of Thierry Demaizière And Alban Teurlai is thus the first stone of a building that will be strengthened with the full broadcast of the Paralympic Games on France Télévisions. And the two directors will not fail to go to the sites to applaud their six athletes: “Of course we’re going to go see them. It’ll be a special emotion. And besides, I think that tickets will be snapped up after the documentary is broadcast. People will rush to buy tickets to go see the Paralympics! I’m sure that many will want to go support Zakia at the Grand Palais or go see Alexis dive from the Pont Alexandre III!“

À Corps Perdus, directed by Thierry Demaizière and Alban Teurlai, will be broadcast on August 20 at 9:10 p.m. on France 2 and on the france.tv platform.